View source for Princess Maria Francisca of Brazil

{{Infobox royalty
| name            = Princess Maria Francisca
| title           = [[w:Duchess of Braganza|Duchess of Braganza]] ([[w:List of titles and honours of the Portuguese Crown#Titles held by the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Portugal|more...]])
| image           = Duquesa de Bragança.jpg
| succession = [[w:House of Braganza|Consort of the Head of the House of Braganza]]
| reign = 13 October 1942 - 15 January 1968
| reign-type = Tenure
| predecessor = [[w:Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern|Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern]]
| successor = [[w:Isabel de Heredia|Isabel de Heredia]]
| spouse          = [[w:Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza|Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza]]
| issue-link      = #Issue
| issue-pipe      = details...
| full name       = ''Maria Francisca Amélia Luísa Vitória Teresa Isabel Miguela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga''
| issue           = [[Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza]]<br />[[w:Infante Miguel, Duke of Viseu|Infante Miguel, Duke of Viseu]]<br />[[w:Infante Henrique, Duke of Coimbra|Infante Henrique, Duke of Coimbra]]
| house           = [[House of Orléans-Braganza|Orléans-Braganza]]
| father          = [[Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará]]
| mother          = [[w:Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz|countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz]]
| date of birth      = 8 September 1914
| place of birth     = [[w:Eu, Seine-Maritime|Eu, Seine-Maritime]], [[w:French Third Republic|Frace]]
| date of death      = 15 January 1968 (aged 53)
| place of death     = [[w:Lisbon|Lisbon]], [[w:Portugal|Portugal]]
| place of burial = Chagas de Cristo Convent, <br>[[w:Vila Viçosa|Vila Viçosa]]
}}

'''Princess Maria Francisca of Brazil''' (8 September 1914 – 15 January 1968) was a [[w:Prince of Brazil (Brazil)|Princess of Brazil]], member of the [[w:House of Orléans-Braganza|House of Orléans-Braganza]] and [[w:Duchess of Braganza|Duchess of Braganza]], wife of [[w:Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza|Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza]], the pretender to the Portuguese throne. She was daughter of [[Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará]], the older son of Regent [[Isabel I of Brazil|Isabel of Brazil]]. The Duke and Duchess had three sons, the eldest of whom, [[Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza]], is the current pretender to the throne of Portugal.

==Biography==
=== Early life ===
''Maria Francisca Amélia Luísa Vitória Teresa Isabel Miguela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga'' was born at [[w:Château d'Eu|Château d'Eu]] in [[w:Eu (Seine-Maritime)|Eu]], [[w:France|France]], the daughter of [[Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará]] (1875–1940), the eldest son of [[Isabel of Brazil|Isabel, Princess Regent of Brazil]], and grandson of the reigning Emperor [[w:Pedro II of Brazil|Pedro II]], and [[Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz]] (1875–1951), a bohemian noblewoman. Her father renounced his dynastic rights in a legally questionable act in order to marry her mother who, in spite of her noble background, did not belong to any reigning dynasty.

===Marriage===
She was married to [[w:Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza|Duarte Nuno]] (1907–1976), [[w:Duke of Braganza|Duke of Braganza]] and claimant to the throne of [[w:Portugal|Portugal]], civilly in the Portuguese Embassy in [[w:Rio de Janeiro|Rio de Janeiro]], Brazil, on 13 October 1942 and religiously in [[w:Petrópolis|Petrópolis]], Brazil, on 15 October.

The religious ceremony took place in the [[w:Cathedral of Petrópolis|Cathedral of Petrópolis]] and was presided by Cardinal [[w:Sebastião da Silveira Cintra|Sebastião Leme da Silveira Cintra]], Metropolitan Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro. The Rite of Marriage was followed by a Nuptial Mass, and the newlyweds received an Apostolic Blessing from [[w:Pope Pius XII|Pope Pius XII]], according to a telegram that was read on the occasion. After the religious ceremony, three identical registries of marriage were made, one for the canonical archives of the local parish, one for the archives of the [[w:Brazilian Imperial House|Brazilian Imperial House]], and one for the archives of the [[w:House of Braganza|Portuguese Royal House]].

Since the civil ceremony did not take place before the Brazilian authorities but in the Portuguese Embassy, a question then arose regarding the manner of recognizing the marriage in the Law of Brazil. In the wake of the Proclamation of the Republic in Brazil, Separation of Church and State had been instituted, and Catholic weddings no longer had automatic civil effect. Actually, between 1890 and 1937, religious weddings could have no civil effect at all, and all couples marrying in Brazil were obliged to undergo a civil ceremony of marriage before a Justice of the Peace, even if they also wanted to have a (legally unrecognized) religious wedding before of after that. However, in 1937, Brazil had adopted legislation that permitted the recognition of civil effects to religious weddings, but in order for the wedding to be  thus recognized, a set of pre-marriage bureaucratic procedures had to be followed. The couple, however, failed to follow those procedures. The groom and his family had assumed that the civil effect question would have been resolved by the civil wedding at the Portuguese Embassy. Another factor, though less decisive, was that some in the bride's family refused to recognize the Brazilian Republic, the Separation of Church and State, and the Laws of Republican Brazil that imposed conditions for the civil recognition of a Catholic wedding and thus behaved as if the Catholic wedding had full effect in and of itself, as was the case during the previous imperial era. So, no real study had been made prior to the wedding about what would be required for it to be recognized in Brazil. Therefore, a problem arose, because the Brazilian authorities initially refused to recognize both the Portuguese Embassy wedding and the Catholic wedding. The reason for Brazil not recognizing the Embassy wedding was that Brazil usually only recognized marriages contracted before diplomatic or consular officials of foreign Nations when both parties where of the same nationality, and were getting married before a representative of their country. But the bride was a Brazilian citizen, and the groom was a German-born naturalized Portuguese citizen. Thus the Embassy wedding did not meet the criteria for recognition, as Brazilian authorities insisted that a marriage of two people of different nationalities in Brazil needed to be conducted under the Brazilian Laws, especially if one of the parties was a Brazilian national. As for the Catholic wedding,  since the religious ceremony had not been preceded by the recently created bureaucratic pre-marriage procedure for a religious wedding to have civil effect in Brazil, the Brazilian authorities initially would not recognize it. So the marriage was already recognized under the Laws of the [[w:Portugal|Portuguese Republic]], and was even recognized by the Royal House of Portugal and the Imperial House of Brazil (both Sovereign Houses regarded the Catholic marriage as the relevant one, in accordance with the laws that had prevailed in the former [[w:Kingdom of Portugal|Kingdom of Portugal]] and in the former [[w:Empire of Brazil|Empire of Brazil]]), but it could not be recognized in the then current Brazilian Civil Law, unless extraordinary measures were adopted to remedy the situation. Celebrating a new civil marriage was out of the question, both because it would imply that the Brazilian bride was living with her husband but was not yet fully married to him (the couple started living together after the second ceremony, that is, after the Catholic wedding), and also because the pre-marriage habilitation process for Brazilian civil ceremony (that would have been the third marriage ceremony) would take several weeks. So, the only solution was to obtain from the Brazilian authorities a special act of recognition of one of the two weddings already celebrated, and that was what was done in the days that followed. After influential entrepreneur [[w:Assis Chateaubriand|Assis Chateaubriand]] Bandeira de Mello brought the problem to the attention of high-ranking Brazilian authorities, the Brazilian Government agreed to take exceptional measures to remedy the situation of the royal couple.

Accordingly, the question of the recognition of the marriage in the law of Brazil was settled on 20 October 1942, when the dictatorial Brazilian President [[w:Getúlio Vargas|Getúlio Vargas]] issued a special "alvará" (a kind of decree), naming ''ex post facto'' one of the guests of the religious wedding as his representative empowered to witness that wedding on behalf of the Presidency of the Republic. By this same document the Brazilian President directed that, extraordinarily, the religious wedding already celebrated on 15 October should be recognized as having civil effects, and that the said decree of the Presidency of the Republic would have full force as a Brazilian civil marriage certificate, with effect retroactive to 15 October. The decree was countersigned by the Brazilian Minister of Education and Culture, Gustavo Capanema, then Acting as interim Minister of Foreign Affairs, and was published in the Official Journal of the Brazilian Government on 22 October 1942.

The couple departed from Brazil on 28 October 1942.

===Death===
Maria Francisca died in [[w:Lisbon|Lisbon]] and was buried at the ''Chagas de Cristo'' (Jesus's Five Sacred Wounds) Convent, in [[w:Vila Viçosa|Vila Viçosa]], the pantheon of the [[w:Duchess of Braganza|duchesses of Braganza]].

== Titles and styles ==
{{Infobox manner of address
| image      = <center>[[Image:COA Dinasty Orleães-Bragança.svg|60px]]</center>
| royal name = <center>Princess Maria Francisca of Brazil</center>
| dipstyle   = [[w:Royal Highness|Her Royal Highness]]
| offstyle   = Your Royal Highness
| altstyle   = Ma'am
| colour      = #FFFFFF
| background  = #07A983
}}
* '''8 September 1914 – 13 October 1942''': ''Her Royal Highness'' Princess Maria Francisca of Brazil
* '''13 October 1942 – 15 January 1968''': ''Her Royal Highness'' The Duchess of Braganza

==Ancestry==
{{collapse top}}
{{Ahnentafel
|title=Ancestors of Princess Maria Francisca of Orléans-Braganza
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Princess Maria Francisca of Orléans-Braganza'''
|2= 2. [[Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará]]
|3= 3. [[Countess Elisabeth Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz]]
|4= 4. [[Prince Gaston, Count of Eu]]
|5= 5. [[Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil]]
|6= 6. Count Johann Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz
|7= 7. Countess Elisabeth Kottulinsky von Kottulin
|8= 8. [[Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours]]
|9= 9. [[Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|10= 10. [[Pedro II of Brazil]]
|11= 11. [[Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies|Princess Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies]]
|12= 12. Count Johann Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz
|13= 13. Baroness Friederike Wanczura von Rzehnicz
|14= 14. Count Josef Kottulinsky von Kottulin
|15= 15. Countess Adelheid von Attems-Heiligenkreuz
|16= 16. [[Louis Philippe I|Louis Philippe I of France]]
|17= 17. [[Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily|Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily]]
|18= 18. [[Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|19= 19. [[Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág|Princess Maria Antonia Koháry]]
|20= 20. [[Pedro I of Brazil|Pedro I of Brazil and IV of Portugal]]
|21= 21. [[Maria Leopoldina of Austria|Archduchess Leopoldina of Austria]]
|22= 22. [[Francis I of the Two Sicilies]]
|23= 23. [[María Isabella of Spain|Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain]]
|24= 24. Baron Johann Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz
|25= 25. Baroness Maria Anna Pergler von Perglas
|26= 26. Baron Joseph Wanczura von Rzehnicz
|27= 27. Baroness Friederike La Motte von Frintropp
|28= 28. Count Josef Kottulinsky von Kuttulin
|29= 29. Countess Josepha Katzianer zu Katzenstein
|30= 30. Count Franz von Attems-Heiligenkreuz
|31= 31. Countess Ernestine Khuen von Bélas
}}
{{collapse bottom}}

== Issue ==
{| style="text-align: center; width: 100%;" class="wikitable"
! style="width: 20%;" | Name !! style="width: 100px;" | Portrait !! style="width: 10em;" | Birth !! Death !! Notes
|-
| [[w:Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza|Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza]]
| 
| 15 May 1945
| 
| 24th [[w:Duke of Braganza|Duke of Braganza]]; pretender to the throne
|-
| [[w:Infante Miguel, Duke of Viseu|Infante Miguel, Duke of Viseu]]
| 
| 3 December 1946
| 
| 8th [[w:Duke of Viseu|Duke of Viseu]], [[w:Infante of Portugal|Infante of Portugal]]; 4th in line of succession
|-
| [[w:Infante Henrique, Duke of Coimbra|Infante Henrique, Duke of Coimbra]]
| 
| 6 November 1949
| 14 February 2017
| 4th [[w:Duke of Coimbra|Duke of Coimbra]], [[w:Infante of Portugal|Infante of Portugal]]
|}

==External links==
*[http://www.monarquia.org.br/ Imperial House of Brazil]

{{Brazilian princesses}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orleans-Braganza, Francisca of, Duchess of Braganza}}
[[Category:Royalty of Brazil]]